AP: Family Lawyer scheduled to see Roxana Saberi on Saturday

FARGO, N.D. — The father of a journalist in prison in Iran says he hopes to hear soon that she will be released.

Reza Saberi said Friday he has talked to his lawyer twice and the lawyer has an appointment to see his daughter, Roxana, on Saturday afternoon. He hopes the lawyer will find out when she will be freed.

A spokesman for the Iranian judiciary said earlier this week that 31-year-old Roxana Saberi was being held in Evin prison north of the capital, Tehran. The Foreign Ministry said she had engaged in “illegal” activities because she continued working in Iran after the government revoked her press credentials in 2006. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday called for Saberi’s release.

Reza Saberi said he did not know what conditions might be placed on his daughter’s release, including whether she would be free to leave the country.

“I think it (her release) will happen. On what conditions, that is what we have to find out,” he said.

“I have talked to my lawyer twice today,” he said Friday. “He has an appointment with our daughter tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully he will get the whole story and find out when they are going to free her.”

Reza, who was born in Iran, said Friday was a holiday there, making it difficult to get details.

Roxana Saberi, who grew up in Fargo, has lived in Iran for six years working as a freelance journalist.